008. Camela Forest (4)
008. Camela Forest (4)
"......J-Jin Yu-ha!? How on earth are you here!!!"
Lee Yu-ri shouted, her eyes wide as if she'd just seen a ghost.
Whoosh─
At that moment,
a club was swinging toward Lee Yu-ri, who stood there with a dazed expression.
I kicked off the tree I was standing on and threw myself toward Lee Yu-ri.
At the same time, I twisted my body and swung Moonlight.
The blade left an afterimage.
Slice─
"SKREEEE!!!"
Splurt─!
The one attacking Lee Yu-ri met its end with a short, final scream.
Blood gushing from the creature's neck splattered onto Lee Yu-ri's face.
I landed right in front of Lee Yu-ri.
"Whoops, sorry."
I reached out and wiped the droplets of blood from her cheek.
Lee Yu-ri stared blankly at me, as if she still couldn't believe I was here.
"What are you staring at, Gukbap?"
I said with a grin.
At that, Lee Yu-ri's dazed expression twisted into a grotesque frown.
"Guk...bap......?"
"Ah, right. We're not on casual terms yet, are we."
"......."
Lee Yu-ri bit her lip tightly.
Seriously, teasing this girl never gets old.
"N-No! What are you even doing here!? Do you have any idea where you are, Jin Yu-ha!?"
As if reality had finally hit her, Lee Yu-ri burst out in anger.
I put on a serious face. The hell is she talking about after pulling that stupid stunt?
"Isn't a last-minute fill-in a party member too? When the team leader makes a stupid choice, a party member can come to the rescue."
Whoosh─
Even as we were talking, a goblin's club crashed down toward us.
I brought my sword to the creature's arm.
Slice─
The force of the goblin's own swing severed its arm.
"SKREEEE!!!"
'As expected of a Legendary Rank.'
Lee Yu-ri's eyes widened for a second, then she let out a sigh.
"Seeing it now, I get that you've got some skill killing goblins....... I didn't even pay attention to goblins in the first place, you know!?"
Lee Yu-ri pointed her finger at a goblin with bright red skin approaching us from far away.
"That one here is the boss, the Blood Goblin! It's about C-Rank! You think you can handle that!?"
"......Hmm, honestly, getting here was pretty tough for me too."
I said, mechanically swinging my sword again.
It really was tough.
The sheer number of them was sickeningly large, as if there was a goblin-only maternity ward in here or something.
Of course,
my Swordsmanship Specialization Rank was S.
It was a rank so high that bringing it into an E-Rank Gate like this was almost embarrassing.
"SKREEE!"
"SKREEE!"
Even then, goblin limbs were being sliced off by nothing more than my casual swings.
Still, there was a common limitation shared by sword-using characters.
In Velvetsra, the Swordsmanship Specialization was fundamentally designed for one-on-one combat.
It was a single-target role built to focus explosive damage on a boss in a short window.
In other words, its single-hit damage was high, but it didn't have much that qualified as an area attack.
Even if I tried to spam the few skills that had some area of effect,
these guys go down with a single slash anyway, so it was faster not to waste the Mana and just keep swinging.
So, figuring it'd take forever to take these goblins down one by one,
I got here by just slicing through a bunch, hiding in the trees, slicing some more, and repeating that.
Thanks to that, I got some good swordsmanship practice in.
"The hard part was just getting here. The one with the red skin is nothing special."
"Nothing special......."
Lee Yu-ri's voice trailed off in disbelief.
The Blood Goblin was almost upon us.
At that, the goblins around us began to slip back and clear the area, forming a large circle.
"Ha, guess the thing has some pride as a boss. But isn't it a bit cheap to pull this after they've all been dogpiling me the entire way?"
Thud─
Thud─
The creature stood before us.
The Blood Goblin had red eyes, veins bulging on its red skin,
and even a horn sprouting from its head.
In its hand was a rusty sword with a sickle-shaped tip.
"Kehe─."
The creature stuck out a long green tongue from its mouth.
Drip, drip─
Saliva dripped down from its tongue.
"Disgusting. What the hell are you doing?"
I gauged the difference between us as I looked at it.
If this were before I got used to handling a sword, I might have been uncertain.
But now, I could see it clearly.
I couldn't lose to this thing even if I wanted to.
'Hmm, but still, it would be pretty good experience for Lee Yu-ri right now.......'
Before I met her, I would've gone all-out just to save her.
But now that I'm beside her, there isn't any real danger, is there?
The essence of this game has always been developing the characters you pull from the gacha.
Of course, I didn't pull Lee Yu-ri from a gacha,
and I wasn't a current Player of Velvetsra—that is, a 'Sponsor'—either.......
"Team leader. Let's fight it together."
I turned my head and spoke to Lee Yu-ri.
"......What?"
"You were originally going to let me join the fighting on the way back, weren't you? It's not three grouped up like usual, just one. You can do this, right?"
At that, Lee Yu-ri looked at me with an incredulous face.
"......Are you insane."
"If you're too exhausted, you can just watch a man fight alone. I don't mind at all."
Vein pop─
A vein bulged on Lee Yu-ri's forehead.
"Jin Yu-ha......."
She readjusted her grip on her shield and spoke in an eerie voice.
"Even if you hadn't come, I was planning to take that thing on myself."
Then she pushed her shield forward and charged at the Blood Goblin.
* * *
SWISH─!
The Blood Goblin's strike came crashing down.
A straightforward attack.
Lee Yu-ri raised her shield and blocked it head-on.
CLANG!!!!
"Nngh—."
It was heavy.
A dull resonance that felt like the shock of blocking was transmitting straight to her bones.
The ground beneath her feet caved in.
'Seriously, this is on a completely different level.......'
Neither the strength nor the speed could compare to an ordinary goblin.
To dodge, she had to predict its movements beforehand, but the creature was so fast even that wasn't easy.
The best she could do was confirm the movement and bring her shield to that spot.
And this guy said it was nothing special.
What kind of bullshit was that man spouting?
CLANG!
This time, she blocked a sword swung from the right.
Even though she tilted her center of gravity almost to the point of falling over,
screeeech.
She was pushed back a long way, the soles of her feet dragging.
"......So, what is that man doing right now!"
She was handling the Blood Goblin alone, and there was no sign of the guy who'd said they should fight together.
'Don't tell me, he saw me fighting and ran because he didn't think we could win......?'
Lee Yu-ri found herself looking for Jin Yu-ha, and her cheeks flushed with heat.
Originally, she'd planned to face this creature alone.
But wasn't it utterly laughable that she was looking for him so quickly because the fight was actually much harder than she'd expected?
Still, it was unfair.
'He gave me hope, saying we'd fight together! He's the one who butted in on his own......!'
She'd already given up on living from the moment she lured the goblins deep into this forest.
That man had appeared on his own, giving her hope regardless of her intentions.
Having done that, running away now was just too cruel.
'Honestly, you should've just never shown up in the first place.......'
CLANG—!!!!
"Grraaaugh!"
As she poured strength into her whole body to block another heavy blow,
her eyes couldn't help but search for Jin Yu-ha.
And when she glanced back,
for a moment, a complete sense of joy swelled up inside her again.
He was.
He was here.
He hadn't abandoned her.
'He didn't run......!?'
But the joy was short-lived.
Something was strange.
A short distance away, Jin Yu-ha was gripping the handle of his sheathed sword with a serious face.
It didn't look like he was going to jump in right now.
That stance felt like someone waiting for something, for the right moment.
'.......'
Goosebumps prickled up her spine.
Could this, no way.......
Was that it?
His words at lunchtime came back to her, about joining the fight in a way that wouldn't disrupt the party.
— There's an empty moment partway through the fight. Especially when you, team leader, knock back a goblin and pass it to the Damage Dealer.......
She bit her lip.
"......Crazy bastard. Seriously. What a crazy bastard."
There's a time to practice things and a time not to.
'He wants to pull off a joint maneuver we've never once practiced together, on the fly, against this Blood Goblin!?'
Against an opponent we might barely beat if he charged in while I was blocking and somehow landed even one hit!?
But Jin Yu-ha seemed determined not to step in unless it was for that exact opening. He stood there motionless, like a stone statue.
Fuuu─
She suddenly resented herself for thinking of him even slightly positively moments ago.
He was just a crazy bastard.
Grind─
Lee Yu-ri gritted her teeth.
She focused her eyes and glared at the Blood Goblin.
The creature was in a state of carelessness, as if it thought she was no match for it.
"Fine, you crazy bastard. Let's do it. If you want to try that maneuver or whatever so badly, let's pull it off."
She scraped together all the remaining Mana in her shield hand.
She bent her knees, preparing to lunge forward.
The moment the creature raised its sword above its head with a slow motion.
Hah—
She kicked off the ground and charged forward.
SWISH─
A vicious sword strike came down, cleaving the wind as if to split her skull.
At such a moment, get even closer.
The eye of the storm is always the safest place.
She closed in on the creature and raised her shield at an angle.
The trick to all deflection is to make the impact point glance off.
The sword and shield collided,
Kagagagak─!
shield and sword scraped past each other, producing a harsh noise of friction,
and under the fierce force, sparks flew as the sword began to grind into the shield.
Her hand gripping the handle trembled as if it would fall off at any moment.
"Hngh─!"
She bit her lip and planted her feet firmly.
She flexibly controlled her wrist to deflect the force away.
And then,
in an instant, the Blood Goblin's posture shifted slightly out of place.
'Now!!!'
Lee Yu-ri immediately glanced the sword aside and,
flattening her shield like a lever, pushed against the creature's waist to shove it over.
At that.
"SKREEE─!?"
The Blood Goblin gave a startled expression
as it was pushed to the side.
Right after that.
Lee Yu-ri immediately turned her head toward Jin Yu-ha.
And then, she could see it.
As if he had been waiting for that exact moment.
The blue sword being drawn as he kicked off the ground.
"Quick Draw."
It was over in an instant.
A single streak of cold, blue light flashed before her eyes.
And before she knew it, the man's back was right in front of her.
A bright red line was drawn across the Blood Goblin's neck.
The creature didn't even seem to realize its neck had been severed.
"Skreee......?"
Sliding click─
Tap.
Jin Yu-ha returned his drawn sword to its scabbard.
At the same moment.
Thud.
Thud-roll roll roll─
The Blood Goblin's head dropped to the ground and rolled away.
Jin Yu-ha turned his head this way and grinned brightly.
"We've got pretty good teamwork, huh."
In response, Lee Yu-ri smiled back at him
and raised her middle finger.